Modern computing devices provide the capability to run multiple programs simultaneously. Desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, and even mobile phones have multi-processing capabilities that allow for multiple applications to run at the same time. Accordingly, in an example scenario, users of such devices may execute a first program for playing video and simultaneously execute a second program for recording user inputs such as notes.
Computing devices that have a generous display such as, for example, a desktop or laptop computer may accommodate simultaneously displaying a video in a first application and recording user inputs in a second application. But for computing devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants that have relatively small displays, simultaneous viewing of two applications is difficult, if not sometimes impossible. Furthermore, depending upon the nature of the applications and the user's intended use of those applications, switching between application programs is not a useful alternative. For example, a user may wish to view a video stream, which may be, for example, a video telephone conference, while simultaneously take notes regarding the video stream. On a device such as a mobile phone or PDA that has a relatively small display, simultaneously presenting both the application to view the video stream and the application for taking notes is not possible. Furthermore, switching between the two applications prevents the user from simultaneously engaging in both activities (viewing the video and taking notes), which if not for the limits of the technology, the user would otherwise wish to do.